Dynamic Information Configuration and Display

ABSTRACT

A system, method, and non-transitory computer-readable information recording medium displays information to a user. Market data related to a plurality of tradeable objects is received from an exchange at a trading device. The display of market data related to each tradeable object is separately controlled. If the user is not paying attention to the market data of a particular tradeable object, then the dissemination of the market data for that tradeable object may be temporarily stopped until the user starts paying attention to that tradeable object.

BACKGROUND

An electronic trading system generally includes a trading device incommunication with an electronic exchange. The electronic exchange sendsinformation about a market, such as prices and quantities, to thetrading device. The trading device sends messages, such as messagesrelated to orders, to the electronic exchange. The electronic exchangeattempts to match quantity of an order with quantity of one or morecontra-side orders.

The exchange is a central marketplace with established rules andregulations where buyers and sellers meet to trade. Some exchanges,referred to as open outcry exchanges, operate using a trading floorwhere buyers and sellers physically meet on the floor to trade. Otherexchanges, referred to as electronic exchanges, operate by an electronicor telecommunications network instead of a trading floor to facilitatetrading in an efficient, versatile, and functional manner. Electronicexchanges have made it possible for an increasing number of people toactively participate in a market at any given time. The increase in thenumber of potential market participants has advantageously led to, amongother things, a more competitive market and greater liquidity.

With respect to electronic exchanges, buyers and sellers may log onto anelectronic exchange trading platform by way of a communication linkthrough their user terminals or trading device. Once connected, buyersand sellers may typically choose which tradeable objects they wish totrade. As used herein, the term “tradeable object” refers to anythingthat can be traded with a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is notlimited to, all types of traded events, goods and/or financial products,which can include, for example, stocks, options, bonds, futures,currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives and collections ofthe foregoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, andmetals. The tradeable object may be “real,” such as products that arelisted by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,” such as a combinationof real products that is created by the user. A tradeable object couldactually be a combination of other tradeable objects, such as a class oftradeable objects.

To profit in electronic markets, market participants must be able toassimilate large amounts of data in order to recognize market trends andto view current market conditions. Screen space is often an importantfactor for a trader to consider when he/she sets up a tradingworkstation, since the screen space directly affects the trader'sability to quickly view and process market data. Many traders use onelarge monitor running at a very high resolution in an effort to get themaximum amount of data onto the screen. However, in today'sinformation-intensive markets, to be successful, traders often need tosimultaneously view multiple trading interfaces, charts, industry news,spreadsheets, as well as other information. Since eachapplication-created interface has at least one window, a single monitordoes not allow a trader to simultaneously view data on multiple windows,and the time it takes the trader to flip between the windows does notmake the single monitor the most optimal trading workspace solution.

Therefore, many traders use multiple monitors to avoid flipping from onewindow to another, and to efficiently view all windows simultaneously.However, traders with multiple monitors can actually only look closelyat one monitor at a time. Although the human peripheral field of visionis approximately 180°, the field of foveal vision (the region of thevisual field where the user has the greatest visual activity) isapproximately 2°. Therefore, a trader can only attend to a small part ofeach display at any one point in time.

The use of a large monitor or multiple monitors allows a tremendousamount of data to be displayed at any one time. Typically, such data iscontinuously being delivered from the exchange to the trading device.The data may be displayed directly, as soon as it is being deliveredand/or received, or the data may be processed, e.g., coalesced orfiltered, prior to being displayed at the trading device. Therefore, allof the data being transmitted and received at the trading device must beprocessed and displayed, even if the trader is not looking at theportion of the display(s) which is displaying most of the data.Furthermore, if the data is coalesced or filtered prior to displaying onthe trading device, all of the data is coalesced, or otherwise filtered,and displayed, even if the trader is not looking at the portion of thedisplay(s) which is displaying the filtered data.

The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems identifiedabove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Certain embodiments are disclosed with reference to the followingdrawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram representative of an exampleelectronic trading system in which certain embodiments may be employed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another example electronic tradingsystem in which certain embodiments may be employed.

FIG. 3A illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device whichmay be used to implement the disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 3B illustrates a second block diagram of a computing or tradingdevice according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a display unit having a plurality of display portionsor areas for displaying market data related to a plurality of tradeableobjects, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Certain embodiments will be better understood when read in conjunctionwith the provided figures, which illustrate examples. It should beunderstood, however, that the embodiments are not limited to thearrangements and instrumentality shown in the attached figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates generally to a computer system which isused to electronically perform trades on an exchange, and moreparticularly, to a system which electronically determines whether theuser is not paying attention to a particular data stream and, toconserve computer resources, temporarily disables the data stream.

Although this description discloses embodiments including, among othercomponents, software executed on hardware, it should be noted that theembodiments are merely illustrative and should not be considered aslimiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of thesehardware and software components may be embodied exclusively inhardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware, or in anycombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Accordingly, certainembodiments may be implemented in other ways.

I. Brief Description of Certain Embodiments

In a first aspect of the present invention, a method of displayinginformation to a user is provided. The method includes the steps ofreceiving market data at a trading device, from an exchange, the marketdata including market data related to a first tradeable object and asecond tradeable object, delivering the market data related to the firsttradeable object to a first control application, and delivering themarket data related to the second tradeable object to a second controlapplication. The method also includes the steps of receiving the marketdata related to the first tradeable object by the first controlapplication and responsively displaying the market data related to thefirst tradeable object in a first portion of a display unit andreceiving the market data related to the second tradeable object by thesecond control application and responsively displaying the market datarelated to the second tradeable object in a second portion of thedisplay unit. An attention value or metric may be used to describe boththe lack of attention on the part of the user as well as the intensityor degree of attention or focus the user is paying to one of the firstand second portions of the display unit. A user's attention is detected,generating an attention value, and updated market data related to acorresponding one of the first and second tradeable objects is preventedfrom being delivered to a corresponding one of the first and secondcontrol applications. Updated market data related to another one of thefirst and second tradeable objects is delivered to a correspondinganother one of the first and second control application. The methodfurther includes the step of receiving the updated market data relatedto the corresponding another one of the first and second tradeableobjects by the corresponding another one of the first and second controlapplications and responsively displaying the updated market data relatedto the corresponding another one of the first and second tradeableobjects in a corresponding another one of the first and second portionsof the display unit.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a system including anexchange and a trading device is provided. The exchange provides marketdata to the trading device. The trading device is coupled to theexchange and is configured to:

-   -   receive market data from the exchange, the market data including        market data related to a first tradeable object and a second        tradeable object;    -   deliver the market data related to the first tradeable object to        a first control application;    -   deliver the market data related to the second tradeable object        to a second control application;    -   receive the market data related to the first tradeable object by        the first control application and responsively display the        market data related to the first tradeable object in a first        portion of a display unit;    -   receive the market data related to the second tradeable object        by the second control application and responsively display the        market data related to the second tradeable object in a second        portion of the display unit;    -   detect an attention value on the part of the user to one of the        first and second portion of the display unit and responsively        prevent updated market data related to a corresponding one of        the first and second tradeable objects from being delivered to a        corresponding one of the first and second control applications;    -   deliver updated market data related to another one of the first        and second tradeable objects to a corresponding another one of        the first and second control application;    -   receive the updated market data related to the corresponding        another one of the first and second tradeable objects by the        corresponding another one of the first and second control        applications and responsively display the updated market data        related to the corresponding another one of the first and second        tradeable objects in a corresponding another one of the first        and second portions of the display unit.

In a third aspect of the present invention, a non-transitorycomputer-readable information recording medium which stores a programfor controlling a computer to operate the computer as a trading devicecoupled to an exchange, the trading device being configured to:

-   -   receive market data from the exchange, the market data including        market data related to a first tradeable object and a second        tradeable object;    -   deliver the market data related to the first tradeable object to        a first control application;    -   deliver the market data related to the second tradeable object        to a second control application;    -   receive the market data related to the first tradeable object by        the first control application and responsively display the        market data related to the first tradeable object in a first        portion of the display unit;    -   receive the market data related to the second tradeable object        by the second control application and responsively display the        market data related to the second tradeable object in a second        portion of the display unit;    -   detect an attention value on the part of the user to one of the        first and second portion of the display unit and responsively        prevent updated market data related to a corresponding one of        the first and second tradeable objects from being delivered to a        corresponding one of the first and second control applications;    -   deliver updated market data related to another one of the first        and second tradeable objects to a corresponding another one of        the first and second control application;    -   receive the updated market data related to the corresponding        another one of the first and second tradeable objects by the        corresponding another one of the first and second control        applications and responsively display the updated market data        related to the corresponding another one of the first and second        tradeable objects in a corresponding another one of the first        and second portions of the display unit.

II. Example Electronic Trading System

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram representative of an exampleelectronic trading system 100 in which certain embodiments may beemployed. The system 100 includes a trading device 110, a gateway 120,and an exchange 130. The trading device 110 is in communication with thegateway 120. The gateway 120 is in communication with the exchange 130.As used herein, the phrase “in communication” encompasses directcommunication and/or indirect communication through one or moreintermediary components. The exemplary electronic trading system 100depicted in FIG. 1 may be in communication with additional components,subsystems, and elements to provide additional functionality andcapabilities without departing from the teaching and disclosure providedherein.

In operation, the trading device 110 may receive market data from theexchange 130 through the gateway 120. A user may utilize the tradingdevice 110 to monitor this market data and/or base a decision to send anorder message to buy or sell one or more tradeable objects to theexchange 130.

Market data may include data about a market for a tradeable object. Forexample, market data may include the inside market, market depth, lasttraded price (“LTP”), a last traded quantity (“LTQ”), or a combinationthereof. The inside market is the lowest available ask price (bestoffer) and the highest available bid price (best bid) in the market fora particular tradable object at a particular point in time (since theinside market may vary over time). Market depth refers to quantitiesavailable at the inside market and at other prices away from the insidemarket. Due to the quantity available, there may be “gaps” in marketdepth.

A tradeable object is anything which may be traded. For example, acertain quantity of the tradeable object may be bought or sold for aparticular price. A tradeable object may include, for example, financialproducts, stocks, options, bonds, future contracts, currency, warrants,funds derivatives, securities, commodities, swaps, interest rateproducts, index-based products, traded events, goods, or a combinationthereof. A tradeable object may include a product listed and/oradministered by an exchange (for example, the exchange 130), a productdefined by the user, a combination of real or synthetic products, or acombination thereof. There may be a synthetic tradeable object thatcorresponds and/or is similar to a real tradeable object.

An order message is a message that includes a trade order. A trade ordermay be, for example, a command to place an order to buy or sell atradeable object, a command to initiate managing orders according to adefined trading strategy, a command to change or cancel a previouslysubmitted order (for example, modify a working order), an instruction toan electronic exchange relating to an order, or a combination thereof.

The trading device 110 may include one or more electronic computingplatforms. For example, the trading device 110 may include a desktopcomputer, hand-held device, laptop, server, a portable computing device,a trading terminal, an embedded trading system, a workstation, analgorithmic trading system such as a “black box” or “grey box” system,cluster of computers, or a combination thereof. As another example, thetrading device 110 may include a single or multi-core processor incommunication with a memory or other storage medium configured toaccessibly store one or more computer programs, applications, libraries,computer readable instructions, and the like, for execution by theprocessor.

As used herein, the phrases “configured to” and “adapted to” encompassthat an element, structure, or device has been modified, arranged,changed, or varied to perform a specific function or for a specificpurpose.

By way of example, the trading device 110 may be implemented as apersonal computer running a copy of X_TRADER®, an electronic tradingplatform provided by Trading Technologies International, Inc. ofChicago, Ill. (“Trading Technologies”). As another example, the tradingdevice 110 may be a server running a trading application providingautomated trading tools such as ADL™, AUTOSPREADER®, and/or AUTOTRADER™,also provided by Trading Technologies. In yet another example, thetrading device 110 may include a trading terminal in communication witha server, where collectively the trading terminal and the server are thetrading device 110.

The trading device 110 is generally owned, operated, controlled,programmed, configured, or otherwise used by a user. As used herein, thephrase “user” may include, but is not limited to, a human (for example,a trader), trading group (for example, group of traders), or anelectronic trading device (for example, an algorithmic trading system).One or more users may be involved in the ownership, operation, control,programming, configuration, or other use, for example.

The trading device 110 may include one or more trading applications. Asused herein, a trading application is an application that facilitates orimproves electronic trading. A trading application provides one or moreelectronic trading tools. For example, a trading application stored by atrading device may be executed to arrange and display market data in oneor more trading windows. In another example, a trading application mayinclude an automated spread trading application providing spread tradingtools. In yet another example, a trading application may include analgorithmic trading application that automatically processes analgorithm and performs certain actions, such as placing an order,modifying an existing order, deleting an order. In yet another example,a trading application may provide one or more trading screens. A tradingscreen may provide one or more trading tools that allow interaction withone or more markets. For example, a trading tool may allow a user toobtain and view market data, set order entry parameters, submit ordermessages to an exchange, deploy trading algorithms, and/or monitorpositions while implementing various trading strategies. The electronictrading tools provided by the trading application may always beavailable or may be available only in certain configurations oroperating modes of the trading application.

A trading application may include computer readable instructions thatare stored in a computer readable medium and executable by a processor.A computer readable medium may include various types of volatile andnon-volatile storage media, including, for example, random accessmemory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electricallyprogrammable read-only memory, electrically erasable read-only memory,flash memory, any combination thereof, or any other tangible datastorage device. As used herein, the term non-transitory or tangiblecomputer readable medium is expressly defined to include any type ofcomputer readable storage media and to exclude propagating signals.

One or more components or modules of a trading application may be loadedinto the computer readable medium of the trading device 110 from anothercomputer readable medium. For example, the trading application (orupdates to the trading application) may be stored by a manufacturer,developer, or publisher on one or more CDs or DVDs, which are thenloaded onto the trading device 110 or to a server from which the tradingdevice 110 retrieves the trading application. As another example, thetrading device 110 may receive the trading application (or updates tothe trading application) from a server, for example, via the Internet oran internal network. The trading device 110 may receive the tradingapplication or updates when requested by the trading device 110 (forexample, “pull distribution”) and/or un-requested by the trading device110 (for example, “push distribution”).

The trading device 110 may be adapted to send order messages. Forexample, the order messages may be sent to through the gateway 120 tothe exchange 130. As another example, the trading device 110 may beadapted to send order messages to a simulated exchange in a simulationenvironment which does not effectuate real-world trades.

The order messages may be sent at the request of a user. For example, atrader may utilize the trading device 110 to send an order message ormanually input one or more parameters for a trade order (for example, anorder price and/or quantity). As another example, an automated tradingtool provided by a trading application may calculate one or moreparameters for a trade order and automatically send the order message.In some instances, an automated trading tool may prepare the ordermessage to be sent but not actually send it without confirmation from auser.

An order message may be sent in one or more data packets or through ashared memory system. For example, an order message may be sent from thetrading device 110 to the exchange 130 through the gateway 120. Thetrading device 110 may communicate with the gateway 120 using a localarea network, a wide area network, a wireless network, a virtual privatenetwork, a T1 line, a T3 line, an integrated services digital network(“ISDN”) line, a point-of-presence, the Internet, and/or a shared memorysystem, for example.

The gateway 120 may include one or more electronic computing platforms.For example, the gateway 120 may implemented as one or more desktopcomputer, hand-held device, laptop, server, a portable computing device,a trading terminal, an embedded trading system, workstation with asingle or multi-core processor, an algorithmic trading system such as a“black box” or “grey box” system, cluster of computers, or anycombination thereof.

The gateway 120 may facilitate communication. For example, the gateway120 may perform protocol translation for data communicated between thetrading device 110 and the exchange 130. The gateway 120 may process anorder message received from the trading device 110 into a data formatunderstood by the exchange 130, for example. Similarly, the gateway 120may transform market data in an exchange-specific format received fromthe exchange 130 into a format understood by the trading device 110, forexample.

The gateway 120 may include a trading application, similar to thetrading applications discussed above, that facilitates or improveselectronic trading. For example, the gateway 120 may include a tradingapplication that tracks orders from the trading device 110 and updatesthe status of the order based on fill confirmations received from theexchange 130. As another example, the gateway 120 may include a tradingapplication that coalesces market data from the exchange 130 andprovides it to the trading device 110. In yet another example, thegateway 120 may include a trading application that provides riskprocessing, calculates implied pricing, handles order processing,handles market data processing, or a combination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the gateway 120 communicates with the exchange130 using a local area network, a wide area network, a virtual privatenetwork, a T1 line, a T3 line, an ISDN line, a point-of-presence, theInternet, and/or a shared memory system, for example.

The exchange 130 may be owned, operated, controlled, or used by anexchange entity. Example exchange entities include the CME Group, theLondon International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, theIntercontinental Exchange, and Eurex. The exchange 130 may include anelectronic matching system, such as a computer, server, or othercomputing device, which is adapted to allow tradeable objects, forexample, offered for trading by the exchange, to be bought and sold. Theexchange 130 may include separate entities, some of which list and/oradminister tradeable objects and others which receive and match orders,for example. The exchange 130 may include an electronic communicationnetwork (“ECN”), for example.

The exchange 130 may be an electronic exchange. The exchange 130 isadapted to receive order messages and match contra-side trade orders tobuy and sell tradeable objects. Unmatched trade orders may be listed fortrading by the exchange 130. The trade orders may include trade ordersreceived from the trading device 110 or other devices in communicationwith the exchange 130, for example. For example, typically the exchange130 will be in communication with a variety of other trading devices(which may be similar to trading device 110) which also provide tradeorders to be matched.

The exchange 130 is adapted to provide market data. Market data may beprovided in one or more messages or data packets or through a sharedmemory system. For example, the exchange 130 may publish a data feed tosubscribing devices, such as the trading device 110 or gateway 120. Thedata feed may include market data.

The system 100 may include additional, different, or fewer components.For example, the system 100 may include multiple trading devices,gateways, and/or exchanges. In another example, the system 100 mayinclude other communication devices, such as middleware, firewalls,hubs, switches, routers, servers, exchange-specific communicationequipment, modems, security managers, and/or encryption/decryptiondevices.

III. Expanded Example Electronic Trading System

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another example electronic tradingsystem 200 in which certain embodiments may be employed. In thisexample, a trading device 210 may utilize one or more communicationnetworks to communicate with a gateway 220 and exchange 230. Forexample, the trading device 210 utilizes network 202 to communicate withthe gateway 220, and the gateway 220, in turn, utilizes the networks 204and 206 to communicate with the exchange 230. As used herein, a networkfacilitates or enables communication between computing devices such asthe trading device 210, the gateway 220, and the exchange 230.

The following discussion generally focuses on the trading device 210,gateway 220, and the exchange 230. However, the trading device 210 mayalso be connected to and communicate with “n” additional gateways(individually identified as gateways 220 a-220 n, which may be similarto gateway 220) and “n” additional exchanges (individually identified asexchanges 230 a-230 n, which may be similar to exchange 230) by way ofthe network 202 (or other similar networks). Additional networks(individually identified as networks 204 a-204 n and 206 a-206 n, whichmay be similar to networks 204 and 206, respectively) may be utilizedfor communications between the additional gateways and exchanges. Thecommunication between the trading device 210 and each of the additionalexchanges 230 a-230 n need not be the same as the communication betweenthe trading device 210 and exchange 230. Generally, each exchange hasits own preferred techniques and/or formats for communicating with atrading device, a gateway, the user, or another exchange. It should beunderstood that there is not necessarily a one-to-one mapping betweengateways 220 a-220 n and exchanges 230 a-230 n. For example, aparticular gateway may be in communication with more than one exchange.As another example, more than one gateway may be in communication withthe same exchange. Such an arrangement may, for example, allow one ormore trading devices 210 to trade at more than one exchange (and/orprovide redundant connections to multiple exchanges).

Additional trading devices 210 a-210 n, which may be similar to tradingdevice 210, may be connected to one or more of the gateways 220 a-220 nand exchanges 230 a-230 n. For example, the trading device 210 a maycommunicate with the exchange 230 a via the gateway 220 a and thenetworks 202 a, 204 a and 206 a. In another example, the trading device210 b may be in direct communication with exchange 230 a. In anotherexample, trading device 210 c may be in communication with the gateway220 n via an intermediate device 208 such as a proxy, remote host, orWAN router.

The trading device 210, which may be similar to the trading device 110in FIG. 1, includes a server 212 in communication with a tradingterminal 214. The server 212 may be located geographically closer to thegateway 220 than the trading terminal 214 in order to reduce latency. Inoperation, the trading terminal 214 may provide a trading screen to auser and communicate commands to the server 212 for further processing.For example, a trading algorithm may be deployed to the server 212 forexecution based on market data. The server 212 may execute the tradingalgorithm without further input from the user. In another example, theserver 212 may include a trading application providing automated tradingtools and communicate back to the trading terminal 214. The tradingdevice 210 may include additional, different, or fewer components.

In operation, the network 202 may be a multicast network configured toallow the trading device 210 to communicate with the gateway 220. Dataon the network 202 may be logically separated by subject such as, forexample, by prices, orders, or fills. As a result, the server 212 andtrading terminal 214 can subscribe to and receive data such as, forexample, data relating to prices, orders, or fills, depending on theirindividual needs.

The gateway 220, which may be similar to the gateway 120 of FIG. 1, mayinclude a price server 222, order server 224, and fill server 226. Thegateway 220 may include additional, different, or fewer components. Theprice server 222 may process price data. Price data includes datarelated to a market for one or more tradeable objects. The order server224 processes order data. Order data is data related to a user's tradeorders. For example, order data may include order messages, confirmationmessages, or other types of messages. The fill server collects andprovides fill data. Fill data includes data relating to one or morefills of trade orders. For example, the fill server 226 may provide arecord of trade orders, which have been routed through the order server224, that have and have not been filled. The servers 222, 224, and 226may run on the same machine or separate machines. There may be more thanone instance of the price server 222, the order server 224, and/or thefill server 226 for gateway 220. In certain embodiments, the additionalgateways 220 a-220 n may each includes instances of the servers 222,224, and 226 (individually identified as servers 222 a-222 n, 224 a-224n, and 226 a-226 n).

The gateway 220 may communicate with the exchange 230 using one or morecommunication networks. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, there may betwo communication networks connecting the gateway 220 and the exchange230. The network 204 may be used to communicate market data to the priceserver 222. In some instances, the exchange 230 may include this data ina data feed that is published to subscribing devices. The network 206may be used to communicate order data to the order server 224 and thefill server 226. The network 206 may also be used to communicate orderdata from the order server 224 to the exchange 230.

The exchange 230, which may be similar to the exchange 130 of FIG. 1,includes an order book 232 and a matching engine 234. The exchange 230may include additional, different, or fewer components. The order book232 is a database that includes data relating to unmatched trade ordersthat have been submitted to the exchange 230. For example, the orderbook 232 may include data relating to a market for a tradeable object,such as the inside market, market depth at various price levels, thelast traded price, and the last traded quantity. The matching engine 234may match contra-side bids and offers pending in the order book 232. Forexample, the matching engine 234 may execute one or more matchingalgorithms that match contra-side bids and offers. A sell order iscontra-side to a buy order. Similarly, a buy order is contra-side to asell order. A matching algorithm may match contra-side bids and offersat the same price, for example. In certain embodiments, the additionalexchanges 230 a-230 n may each include order books and matching engines(individually identified as the order book 232 a-232 n and the matchingengine 234 a-234 n, which may be similar to the order book 232 and thematching engine 234, respectively). Different exchanges may usedifferent data structures and algorithms for tracking data related toorders and matching orders.

In operation, the exchange 230 may provide price data from the orderbook 232 to the price server 222 and order data and/or fill data fromthe matching engine 234 to the order server 224 and/or the fill server226. Servers 222, 224, 226 may process and communicate this data to thetrading device 210. The trading device 210, for example, using a tradingapplication, may process this data. For example, the data may bedisplayed to a user. In another example, the data may be utilized in atrading algorithm to determine whether a trade order should be submittedto the exchange 230. The trading device 210 may prepare and send anorder message to the exchange 230.

In certain embodiments, the gateway 220 is part of the trading device210. For example, the components of the gateway 220 may be part of thesame computing platform as the trading device 210. As another example,the functionality of the gateway 220 may be performed by components ofthe trading device 210. In certain embodiments, the gateway 220 is notpresent. Such an arrangement may occur when the trading device 210 doesnot need to utilize the gateway 220 to communicate with the exchange230, such as if the trading device 210 has been adapted to communicatedirectly with the exchange 230.

IV. Example Computing Device

FIG. 3A illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device 300which may be used to implement the disclosed embodiments. The tradingdevice 110 of FIG. 1 may include one or more computing devices 300, forexample. The gateway 120 of FIG. 1 may include one or more computingdevices 300, for example. The exchange 130 of FIG. 1 may include one ormore computing devices 300, for example.

The computing device 300 includes a communication network 310, aprocessor 312, a memory 314, an interface 316, an input device 318, andan output device 320. The computing device 300 may include additional,different, or fewer components. For example, multiple communicationnetworks, multiple processors, multiple memory, multiple interfaces,multiple input devices, multiple output devices, or any combinationthereof, may be provided. As another example, the computing device 300may not include an input device 318 or output device 320.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the computing device 300 may include a processor312 coupled to a communication network 310. The communication network310 may include a communication bus, channel, electrical or opticalnetwork, circuit, switch, fabric, or other mechanism for communicatingdata between components in the computing device 300. The communicationnetwork 310 may be communicatively coupled with and transfer databetween any of the components of the computing device 300.

The processor 312 may be any suitable processor, processing unit, ormicroprocessor. The processor 312 may include one or more generalprocessors, digital signal processors, application specific integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays, analog circuits, digitalcircuits, programmed processors, and/or combinations thereof, forexample. The processor 312 may be a single device or a combination ofdevices, such as one or more devices associated with a network ordistributed processing. Any processing strategy may be used, such asmulti-processing, multi-tasking, parallel processing, and/or remoteprocessing. Processing may be local or remote and may be moved from oneprocessor to another processor. In certain embodiments, the computingdevice 300 is a multi-processor system and, thus, may include one ormore additional processors which are communicatively coupled to thecommunication network 310.

The processor 312 may be operable to execute logic and other computerreadable instructions encoded in one or more tangible media, such as thememory 314. As used herein, logic encoded in one or more tangible mediaincludes instructions which may be executable by the processor 312 or adifferent processor. The logic may be stored as part of software,hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, and/or micro-code, for example.The logic may be received from an external communication device via acommunication network such as the network 340. The processor 312 mayexecute the logic to perform the functions, acts, or tasks illustratedin the figures or described herein.

The memory 314 may be one or more tangible media, such as computerreadable storage media, for example. Computer readable storage media mayinclude various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media,including, for example, random access memory, read-only memory,programmable read-only memory, electrically programmable read-onlymemory, electrically erasable read-only memory, flash memory, anycombination thereof, or any other tangible data storage device. As usedherein, the term non-transitory or tangible computer readable medium isexpressly defined to include any type of computer readable medium and toexclude propagating signals. The memory 314 may include any desired typeof mass storage device including hard disk drives, optical media,magnetic tape or disk, etc.

The memory 314 may include one or more memory devices. For example, thememory 314 may include local memory, a mass storage device, volatilememory, non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof. The memory 314may be adjacent to, part of, programmed with, networked with, and/orremote from processor 312, so the data stored in the memory 314 may beretrieved and processed by the processor 312, for example. The memory314 may store instructions which are executable by the processor 312.The instructions may be executed to perform one or more of the acts orfunctions described herein or shown in the figures.

The memory 314 may store a trading application 330. In certainembodiments, the trading application 330 may be accessed from or storedin different locations. The processor 312 may access the tradingapplication 330 stored in the memory 314 and execute computer-readableinstructions included in the trading application 330.

In certain embodiments, during an installation process, the tradingapplication may be transferred from the input device 318 and/or thenetwork 340 to the memory 314. When the computing device 300 is runningor preparing to run the trading application 330, the processor 312 mayretrieve the instructions from the memory 314 via the communicationnetwork 310.

V. Dynamic Information Configuration and Display

With particular reference to FIG. 3B, the output device 320 of thetrading device 300 may include a display unit 350 for displaying themarket data received from the exchange 130. The market data is deemed toinclude other information or data than the market data received directlyfrom the exchange 130. For example, the market data may also includedata generated by the trading device 300 (as a function of the marketdata received from the exchange 130 or otherwise), other information(received from other sources), and a user interface, which allows thetrader to prepare and communicate trade orders to the exchange 130.

In one embodiment, the display unit 350 is a single display device. Inanother embodiment, the display unit 350 includes a plurality of displaydevices. In the illustrated embodiment, the display unit 350 includesfirst, second, third and fourth display devices 350A, 350B, 350C, 350D,although the present invention is not limited to any number of displaydevices. In one aspect of the present invention, the display devices350A, 350B, 350C, 350D are treated as a single large display, whereelements (such as windows) displayed thereon are freely moveable acrossthe separate display devices. In other aspect of the present invention,the display devices 350A, 350B, 350C, 350D are treated as a single largedisplay, however, the position of elements or blocks of information arepredetermined and generally fixed (although the position may beconfigurable).

In one aspect of the present invention, the user's focus on a portion ofthe display unit 350. i.e., the portion of the display unit at which thetrader is currently looking, is detected and used to define a user focusarea on the display unit. In one embodiment, the user's focus isdetected using a tracking mechanism 360. In general, the trackingmechanism 360 may include one or more sensors which are configured todetect the trader's posture, the direction the trader is facing, and/oran area of the display unit at which the trader is currently looking. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the tracking mechanism 360 may be controlledby and/or the sensor information may be used by an attention controlapplication 362 which runs on the trading device 110.

In aspect of the present invention, the tracking mechanism 360 includesat least one of a facial recognition system, an acoustic positionsystem, a distance sensor, an imaging sensor and other suitablesensor(s). There are many currently existing technologies providing gazedetection and tracking functionality, and the tracking mechanism 360 caninclude any existing or later developed gaze detection and trackingsystems. According to one embodiment, the tracking mechanism 360 maycapture the user's gaze, and then provide the user's gaze position datato an attention control application 362.

Upon receiving the user's gaze position data, the attention controlapplication 362 may first determine the user's gaze position coordinatesin relation to one of the monitors or a specific area of portion thereof(see below). When the attention control application 362 detects a usershifting his eyes away from one of the monitors or a portion of adisplay on one of the monitors (see below), the attention controlapplication 362 may provide a signal to a display manager 364 whichcontrols display of information on the display unit 350. Additionalembodiments and systems directed to managing data displays based on auser's attention data are disclosed and discussed in commonly owned U.S.Pat. No. 8,232,962, entitled “System and Method for Display Managementbased on User Attention Inputs”, which is incorporated herein byreference.

With particular reference to FIG. 4, the market data may be displayed indefined windows 402, 404, 406, 408, 410 on the display unit 350. Thewindows 402, 404, 406, 408, 410 may be moved on the display unit 350,minimized, or resized. In one embodiment, the areas of the display unit350, i.e., the determined user focus area and a second area maycorrespond directly to and/or on a one to one basis with a window.Alternatively, the areas may include or be associated with one or morewindows. In general, each portion or window 402, 404, 406, 408, 410displays the market data (and allows the trader to formulate and submita trader order) related to a single tradeable object. In the example ofFIG. 4, five portions or windows are shown. However, the number ofwindows on the display unit 350 will vary based on how many tradeableobjects the trader is viewing or monitoring. It should also be notedthat one or more of the windows may be used for displaying informationother than market data.

With particular reference to FIG. 3B, the trading device 110 alsoincludes a portion control application or control application 366associated with portion or window 402, 404, 406, 408, 410 shown in FIG.4. The control application 366 for a particular window 402, 404, 406,408, 410 is responsible for receiving information, e.g., marketinformation for a particular tradeable object, and providinginstructions to the display unit 350 to display the information in theassociated window 402, 404, 406, 408, 410.

For example, in one exemplary embodiment, the trading device 110receives market data related to a first tradeable object and market datarelated to a second tradeable object from the exchange 130. The marketdata related to the first tradeable object is delivered to a firstinstance of the portion control application or control application 366.The market data related to the second tradeable object is delivered to asecond instance of the portion control application or controlapplication 366. Each portion control application 366 receives themarket data and displays the market data related to the associatedtradeable object in the corresponding portion 402, 404, 406, 408, 410 onthe display unit 350.

Since there may be multiple portions or windows open on the display unit350, and each may be receive a constant stream or update of information,the processing overhead on the trading device 110 may be quite large.Since the trader can pay attention to only a number of tradeable objectsat any one time, it may be unnecessary to continuously update the datain all of the portions or windows.

In one aspect of the present invention, the trading device 110 generatesan attention value or metric based on the detected focus, or converselythe lack of attention, on the part of the user. In other words, theattention value describes the periods when the user or trader has lostfocus on, or is not paying attention to, one (or more) of the first andsecond portions of the display unit. The attention value may be used toprevent updated market data related to a corresponding one of the firstand second tradeable objects from being delivered to a one of the firstand second control applications. In another embodiment, the attentionvalue describes the periods when the user or trader is intently focusedon a first portion of the display to the exclusion (or relativeexclusion) of the second portion of the display unit and responsivelyincreasing the available bandwidth or update priority allocated toupdating market data related to the first portion of the screen. Theadditional bandwidth may be realized by decreasing the availablebandwidth to update the market data presented on the second portion ofthe screen.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the attention valuedescribing the user's focus on one or more of the portions or windows402, 404, 406, 408, 410 is determined based on the output generated bythe tracking mechanism 360. The tracking mechanism 360 may be used todetermine on which portion of the display unit 350, and thus whichportion or window 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, the user is focused, and/orto determine if the trader is in front of the trading device 110.

In another embodiment, the trading device 110 is configured to determineif the one of the first and second portion of the display unit isobscured and/or minimized when a lack of user attention or focus to oneor both of those portions is detected. If one of the portions or windowsis obscured, e.g., by another window, for a predetermined time period,then the trading device 110 determines that the user or trader is notpaying attention to that window. Thus, the stream of data or market datato that window may be, at least temporarily, shut off. This will helpreduce the processing overhead of the trading device 110, and maygenerally increase the performance of the trading device 110.

The streaming of data may be performed at different points, and to someextent, will be shut off at a location based on the architecture of thesystem in general. For instance, the stream of data may be (1) shut offat an network interface card 316 associated with the trading device 110and/or (2) at a router 312 associated with the trading device 110 and/or(3) at a gateway 120 located between the exchange 130 and the tradingdevice 110 and/or (4) at the trading device 110 and/or at the exchange130.

Once the user or trader returns their attention to the window or portionfor which the data stream has been turned off, the trading device 110will enable the data stream so that the window is refreshed with updatedmarket data.

In another aspect of the present invention, one or more trading devices110 may be linked. If the data stream for a particular tradeable objectis shut off at one of the trading devices 110, the data stream may beforwarded to a subsequent trading device 110.

With particular reference to FIG. 5, a method 500 of displayinginformation to a user is shown. In a first step 502, market data isreceived at a trading device 110, from an exchange 130. The market dataincludes market data related to a first tradeable object and a secondtradeable object. In a second step 504, the market data related to thefirst tradeable object is delivered to a first control application 366and in a third step 506, the market data related to the second tradeableobject is delivered to a second control application 366. In a fourthstep 508, the market data related to the first tradeable object isreceived by the first control application 366 and the market datarelated to the first tradeable object is responsively displayed in afirst portion 402 of the display unit 350. In a fifth step 510, themarket data related to the second tradeable object is received by thesecond control application 366 and the market data related to the secondtradeable object is responsively displayed in a second portion 404 ofthe display unit 350.

An attention value representing the degree of attention on the part ofthe user on one of the first and second portions of the display unit 350is detected and calculated, in a sixth step 512. The attention value canbe utilized to control and/or manage the delivery of updated market datato one of the first and second control applications 366. Updated marketdata related to one of the first and second tradeable objects isdelivered, in a seventh step 514, to a corresponding one of the firstand second control applications 366 based on the calculated userattention value. In an eighth step 516, the updated market data relatedto one of the first and second tradeable objects is received by thecorresponding first and second control applications 366. The updatedmarket data related to one of the first and second tradeable objects isthen displayed in one of the first and second portions 402, 404 of thedisplay unit 350. For example, if the attention value corresponding tothe first portion 402 of the display unit 350 is high, then marketupdates may be prioritized for faster delivery to the first portion 402while market updates to the second portion 404 may be assigned a lower(less frequent) priority.

Some of the described figures depict example block diagrams, systems,and/or flow diagrams representative of methods that may be used toimplement all or part of certain embodiments. One or more of thecomponents, elements, blocks, and/or functionality of the example blockdiagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may be implemented alone or incombination in hardware, firmware, discrete logic, as a set of computerreadable instructions stored on a tangible computer readable medium,and/or any combinations thereof, for example.

The example block diagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may beimplemented using any combination of application specific integratedcircuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)), fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)), discrete logic, hardware, and/orfirmware, for example. Also, some or all of the example methods may beimplemented manually or in combination with the foregoing techniques,for example.

The example block diagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may beperformed using one or more processors, controllers, and/or otherprocessing devices, for example. For example, the examples may beimplemented using coded instructions, for example, computer readableinstructions, stored on a tangible computer readable medium. A tangiblecomputer readable medium may include various types of volatile andnon-volatile storage media, including, for example, random access memory(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM),electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electricallyerasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, a hard disk drive,optical media, magnetic tape, a file server, any other tangible datastorage device, or any combination thereof. The tangible computerreadable medium is non-transitory.

Further, although the example block diagrams, systems, and/or flowdiagrams are described above with reference to the figures, otherimplementations may be employed. For example, the order of execution ofthe components, elements, blocks, and/or functionality may be changedand/or some of the components, elements, blocks, and/or functionalitydescribed may be changed, eliminated, sub-divided, or combined.Additionally, any or all of the components, elements, blocks, and/orfunctionality may be performed sequentially and/or in parallel by, forexample, separate processing threads, processors, devices, discretelogic, and/or circuits.

While embodiments have been disclosed, various changes may be made andequivalents may be substituted. In addition, many modifications may bemade to adapt a particular situation or material. Therefore, it isintended that the disclosed technology not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed, but will include all embodiments falling withinthe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of displaying information to a user, themethod comprising: receiving market data at a trading device, from anexchange, the market data including market data related to a firsttradeable object and a second tradeable object; delivering the marketdata related to the first tradeable object to a first controlapplication; delivering the market data related to the second tradeableobject to a second control application; receiving the market datarelated to the first tradeable object by the first control applicationand responsively displaying the market data related to the firsttradeable object in a first portion of a display unit; receiving themarket data related to the second tradeable object by the second controlapplication and responsively displaying the market data related to thesecond tradeable object in a second portion of the display unit;determining an attention value that reflects the degree to which a useris focused on one of the first and second portion of the display unitand responsively preventing updated market data related to acorresponding one of the first and second tradeable objects from beingdelivered to a corresponding one of the first and second controlapplications; delivering updated market data related to another one ofthe first and second tradeable objects to a corresponding another one ofthe first and second control application; and receiving the updatedmarket data related to the corresponding another one of the first andsecond tradeable objects by the corresponding another one of the firstand second control applications and responsively displaying the updatedmarket data related to the corresponding another one of the first andsecond tradeable objects in a corresponding another one of the first andsecond portions of the display unit.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe step of determining the attention value related to the user's focuson one of the first and second portion of the display unit is performedusing a tracking mechanism.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein thetracking mechanism includes at least one of a facial recognition system,an acoustic position system, a distance sensor, and an imaging sensor.4. The method of claim 2 wherein the trading device, using the trackingmechanism, is configured to determine if the trader is in front of thetrading device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofdetermining the attention value related to the user's focus on one ofthe first and second portion of the display unit includes the step ofdetermining if (1) the one of the first and second portion of thedisplay unit is obscured and/or minimized and/or (2) no user is in frontof the trading device.
 6. The method of claim 1 including the steps of:detecting an increase in the user's focus on one of the first and secondportions of the display unit; allowing the one of the first and secondcontrol applications to receive updated market data in response todetecting the return of attention to the one of the first and secondportions of the display unit; and, receiving the updated market datarelated to the corresponding one of the first and second tradeableobjects by the corresponding one of the first and second controlapplications and responsively displaying the updated market data relatedto the corresponding one of the first and second tradeable objects inthe corresponding one of the first and second portions of the displayunit.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of preventing updatedmarket data from being delivered to the corresponding one of the firstand second control applications is performed (1) at an network interfacecard associated with the trading device and/or (2) at a routerassociated with the trading device and/or (3) at a gateway locatedbetween the exchange and the trading device and/or (4) at the tradingdevice and/or at the exchange.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein thedisplay unit includes a plurality of display devices, wherein the user'sfocus defines a user focus area on one of the first and second portionsof the display unit.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step ofpreventing updated market data from being delivered to the correspondingone of the first and second control applications includes the step ofallowing the updated market data to be delivered to another tradingdevice.
 10. A trading device coupled to an exchange, the trading deviceconfigured to: receive market data from the exchange, the market dataincluding market data related to a first tradeable object and a secondtradeable object; deliver the market data related to the first tradeableobject to a first control application; deliver the market data relatedto the second tradeable object to a second control application; receivethe market data related to the first tradeable object by the firstcontrol application and responsively display the market data related tothe first tradeable object in a first portion of a display unit; receivethe market data related to the second tradeable object by the secondcontrol application and responsively display the market data related tothe second tradeable object in a second portion of the display unit;determine an attention value related to a user's focus on one of thefirst and second portions of the display unit and responsively preventupdated market data related to a corresponding one of the first andsecond tradeable objects from being delivered to a corresponding one ofthe first and second control applications; deliver updated market datarelated to another one of the first and second tradeable objects to acorresponding another one of the first and second control application;and receive the updated market data related to the corresponding anotherone of the first and second tradeable objects by the correspondinganother one of the first and second control applications andresponsively display the updated market data related to thecorresponding another one of the first and second tradeable objects in acorresponding another one of the first and second portions of thedisplay unit.
 11. The trading device of claim 10, wherein the tradingdevice includes a tracking mechanism.
 12. The trading device of claim 11wherein the tracking mechanism includes at least one of a facialrecognition system, an acoustic position system, a distance sensor, andan imaging sensor.
 13. The trading device of claim 11 wherein thetrading device, using the tracking mechanism, is configured to determineif the trader is in front of the trading device.
 14. The trading deviceof claim 11, wherein the tracking mechanism, in determining an attentionvalue related to the user's focus on one of the first and secondportions of the display unit, is further configured to determine if (1)the one of the first and second portions of the display unit is obscuredand/or minimized and/or (2) no user is in front of the trading device.15. The trading device of claim 10, the trading device being furtherconfigured to: detect an increase in the user's focus on the one of thefirst and second portions of the display unit; allow the one of thefirst and second control applications to receive updated market data inresponse to detecting the increase in the user's focus on one of thefirst and second portions; and, receive the updated market data relatedto the corresponding one of the first and second tradeable objects bythe corresponding one of the first and second control applications andresponsively display the updated market data related to thecorresponding one of the first and second tradeable objects in thecorresponding one of the first and second portions of the display unit.16. The trading device of claim 10, wherein the trading device preventsupdated market data from being delivered to the corresponding one of thefirst and second control applications (1) at an network interface cardassociated with the trading device and/or (2) at a router associatedwith the trading device and/or (3) at a gateway located between theexchange and the trading device and/or (4) at the trading device and/orat the exchange.
 17. The trading device of claim 10 wherein the displayunit includes a plurality of display devices, wherein the user's focusdefines a user focus area on one of the first and second portions of thedisplay unit.
 18. The trading device of claim 10 wherein the tradingdevice, in preventing updated market data from being delivered to thecorresponding one of the first and second control applications, isfurther configured to allow the updated market data to be delivered toanother trading device.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readableinformation recording medium which stores a program for controlling acomputer to perform trade orders at an exchange, the program configuredto operate the computer as a: a trading device coupled to an exchange,the trading device being configured to: receive market data from theexchange, the market data including market data related to a firsttradeable object and a second tradeable object; deliver the market datarelated to the first tradeable object to a first control application;deliver the market data related to the second tradeable object to asecond control application; receive the market data related to the firsttradeable object by the first control application and responsivelydisplay the market data related to the first tradeable object in a firstportion of a display unit; receive the market data related to the secondtradeable object by the second control application and responsivelydisplay the market data related to the second tradeable object in asecond portion of the display unit; detect an attention value related toa user's focus on one of the first and second portion of the displayunit and responsively prevent updated market data related to acorresponding one of the first and second tradeable objects from beingdelivered to a corresponding one of the first and second controlapplications; deliver updated market data related to another one of thefirst and second tradeable objects to a corresponding another one of thefirst and second control application; and receive the updated marketdata related to the corresponding another one of the first and secondtradeable objects by the corresponding another one of the first andsecond control applications and responsively display the updated marketdata related to the corresponding another one of the first and secondtradeable objects in a corresponding another one of the first and secondportions of the display unit.